Similar to Mercedes-Benz India's strategy, rival Audi has recently revealed its plans to target the Indian car market with multiple launches in 2016. The Ingolstadt-based luxury carmaker has announced that it will be launching over 10 new products in India this year in order to regain the number one spot in the Indian luxury car market. At the Auto Expo 2016, Audi Indian head Mr. Joe King said, "There will be, will be more than 10 new launches in 2016." the carmaker has already launched the new Audi R8 in India at the Auto Expo priced at Rs. 2.47 Crore (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Last year Stuttgart-based carmaker, Mercedes-Benz launched 15 new models in India taking the top spot from Audi as the largest luxury car manufacturer. In 2015, Audi sold 11,192 units in India while Mercedes-Benz sold 13,502 units. Now Audi plans to regain its premier position and that is what the company plans to achieve from the 10 + launches planned over the course of this year. In fact, when asked if the company would be pressing to reclaim the number one spot, Joe King said, "Yes I would like to be number one. We at Audi want to be number one, we have that competitive streak and we will be number one again."
However, King did express his satisfaction with the company's performance last year. He also added that the key priority at the moment is not to be number one, but to develop a strong foundation for a sustainable profitable growth in India. "From my point of view, we are in a marathon and not a sprint. It is really important in a market like India that you have the fundamentals really strong. In a developing market, you will have drops...unless you have a really strong foundation, the business will crumble," he said.
As for the cars that are set to come to reach shores this year, Audi is yet to reveal more detail about them. That being said, the list of upcoming Audi car will in fact include - the new Audi A4 facelift, the Audi A5 Sedan and the second generation Audi Q5.
In Addition to that, Audi is also working on setting up service centres at places where it does not have a showroom but lot of customers as part of a long-term strategy to fuel growth in India. Talking about it King said, "We are focusing on service first approach with only service to cater to the customers who are already in that area. As the market grows, on the same structure we can build showroom and we can expand into used car business."
